Kolkata rape, murder case: Trinamool Comgress MP Jawhar Sircar, who had announced his resignation from the Rajya Sabha on September 8, 2024, following the Kolkata rape, murder case at R.G Kar Hospital, was reportedly urged by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to reconsider his decision.
In his resignation letter to Banerjee, Sircar expressed his intention to step down and called on the TMC chief to “save the state.” According to a report by India Today, Sircar is expected to visit Delhi on September 11 to submit his resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Following Sircar's announcement, Mamata Banerjee reached out to him and requested that he reconsider his resignation from the Rajya Sabha.
Sircar had also written a letter to the CM stating that he had thought Mamata Banerjee would interfere in the “old Mamata style.”
Sircar mentioned that he had hoped for a direct intervention from Banerjee to resolve the crisis, but felt that the government's response was inadequate and delayed. He argued that normalcy could have been restored more quickly if the government had held those responsible for the administrative failings accountable. He further stated his intention to completely withdraw from politics after his resignation.
“I thought you would interfere in the ongoing movement in the old Mamata style, but I did not see it,” he said adding that ongoing agitation of doctors was against the “unchecked overbearing attitude of the favoured few and the corrupt”.
“I have suffered patiently for a month since the terrible incident at RG Kar Hospital and was hoping for your direct intervention with the agitating junior doctors, in the old style of Mamata Banerjee. It has not happened and whatever punitive steps the government is taking now are too little and quite late,” Jawhar Sircar wrote in his letter.
On August 9,2024, a trainee doctor was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The police have arrested Sanjay Roy in connection with the crime.
The response of the hospital administration and the Kolkata police has been criticized, with allegations that the ex-principal of the hospital, Dr. Sandip Ghosh, attempted to cover up the murder as a suicide.
Additionally, the victim's family faced delays in viewing the body, and the FIR was filed about 14 hours after the body was discovered.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh commented on Sircar’s decision, agreeing with many aspects of his letter to Chief Minister Banerjee.
Ghosh acknowledged Jawhar Sircar's decision and his status as “the greatest bureaucrat from West Bengal." He also stated that Sircar's choice is a personal matter and he has the right to make it.
